July 4th

I firmly believe that NYC is better than Boston at everything, EXCEPT 4th of July fireworks.

I miss you, fatkids.

I wish I were in either NYC or Boston today. Maybe I'll run into some rowdy expats here in Seoul.  =)

Life Lessons

1. Comparative Advantage: Learn it, love it, live it 
2. Be entrepreneurial and work in small teams. "Jesus Chris tried 12, and that proved one too many." ~Norman Macrae
3. There is a high correlation between success and e-mail volume. At least, that's what I will tell myself when I wake up to a bajillion e-mails from Seoul, SF, and London.
4. Before you send an e-mail, always save a draft and go back to it later
5. You will never be as happy and optimistic as you were in college.
6. I'm a sensitive soul, though I seem thick-skinned. ~Pumba, from the Lion King

A Toy Story.

I've had this Tweety doll for nearly 22 years now (I'm almost 23) and I bring it with me whenever I travel for long periods of time. A few weeks ago, I left it on my bed and housekeeping accidentally took it to the laundry room along with my sheets and blankets. I called the front desk and reported the missing doll. A few days later, I get a phone call from the front desk:

"Hello?"

"Hi. Did you call few days ago about missing doll?"

"YES!"

"Is it a duck?"

"Uh, it's a bird. A yellow bird."

"Yes, duck! We found it. We will bring it now to your room."

Saved!

Since then, I have carefully moved Tweety from my bed to my living room sofa every morning, but yesterday morning I forgot to do so and Tweety is missing yet again!

Parag offered to send me a new Tweety doll (thanks, friend!), but it's not really Tweety that I'm attached to. In fact, I'm afraid of birds because of a traumatic chicken experience that I had while living in the sticks of Korea as a kid.

I'm attached to the fact that Tweety is so old that my mom has to handwash it because it would probably fall apart in the washing machine. I'm attached to the fact that I still have no idea whether I should call Tweety a "he" or "she." I'm attached to the fact that Tweety is the same as always, minus the drool that it was covered in once upon a time.

On that note, I really want to watch Toy Story 3 in 3D.  Too bad I can't find a theater in Seoul that is playing it...

July 1, 2010:
Tweety has been found!
=)

More Pictures!

Click photos to enlarge.

On June 15th, we got to ring this giant bell in the middle of Seoul at noon. They usually ring it on New Year's Eve, and only ~2% of people in Korea have had the opportunity to ring this bell. Pretty awesome! The guide told us to make a wish while ringing the bell. I made four.

My happy team - Andreas, Chris and Mattia.

Words of wisdom from Andreas - "May you break many bells in your life."  He's sticking his tongue out in this picture! Haha. He totally wants to break that bell.

My turn! My turn!

President Lee Myung Bak

Yvo de Boer

Professor Heller - Okay, so Tom's speech came with a powerpoint that was controlled by someone in the back of the room. However, Tom decided to skip around a bit...
The Korean guy in the back had no idea that he was on the wrong slide for a while, so I ran to the back to help him. Unfortunately, Tom had skipped like 6 slides and when I kept going back and forth searching for the correct slide, (which everyone in the room could see me doing) the tech guy yelled at me and was like, "do you have any idea what you're doing?!"
Mattia came and saved me. Just reaffirms my love for economists. Haha.

Lord Nicholas Stern

Professor Ekins

Secretary Kim Sang Hyup - so funny! I'm pretty sure he's pretending to be a pimp in this picture.

Andreas (behind me) is 6'4".  How silly of me to think that I would have to bend my knees a bit in order to not cover his face!

East Asia Climate Forum/GGGI Launch!

East Asia Climate Forum was pretty cool. Keynote speakers included President Lee, former Prime Minister Han Seung Soo, Ban Ki Moon, Lord Nicholas Stern, Thomas Heller, and Yvo de Boer.

Secretary Kim Sang Hyup, Andreas Merkl and Thomas Heller get ready to break the bell!

Mattia Romani, our economist, and (half of) Chris Stori, my Jedi Master.

Andreas enjoying some wine.

The man who escaped death, Eric Beinhocker! (His plane to Seoul had to make an emergency landing and all the tires blew off! He still managed to make it to the Board Meeting on time, of course.)

Younghoon Kang, our liaison to the Blue House, is soon to be married and leaving for MIT Sloan. "Esther, the only way you can escape is if you get married, or die."  TRUTH.

From left to right: Yoo Yeon Chul, Chris Stori, Jang Won, Jung Tae Yong. Chris looks super happy!

Prime Minister Han Seung Soo on far right. (I see Chris in the background. Hehe.)
One of the highlights of my week: PM Han told my team that I was "very small, but very good." Haha. YEAH, POWER TO THE LITTLE PEOPLE!

Soy exhausted from all of the preparation and events, but it was a good week.

=)

Yvo de Boer or Christiana Figueres?

Yvo de Boer?
Wiki entry
Guardian
Huffington Post
Washington Post

Christiana Figueres?
Wiki entry
Guardian
Huffington Post
NYTimes

Press Release From the Blue House

My life for the past month (GGGI)

On my mind...

North Korean attacks on the ROK

Global stock markets see sharp falls

The next iPhone (mine)

The power of cheese!

Clippings

From Thomas Friedman's Op-ed:
"Winston Churchill famously observed that, “You can always trust the Americans. In the end, they will do the right thing, after they have eliminated all the other possibilities.” Is that still true for our generation? We’re going to find out. The time for bluffing ourselves is over. Are we going to do what it takes to fix our country, or are we going to be remembered as the generation that received more poker chips from their parents than any other and then had to turn around and toss a single chip to their kids and tell them to put it on “Lucky 21” — and hope for the best."


Want to see the countryside? Go to Paris!
[Farmers Bring the Country to Paris]


North Korea, if you ruin my stay in the ROK, I will take it personally.
[The Economist]

Economix

Making the Simple Complicated (Climate change economics)
Sigh. Story of my life...

Koreans WORK! (Not that this is a surprise...)

Ben Bernanke Quotes

Ben Bernanke in the NYTimes

[And yes, Ben Bernanke is also married to a Wellesley alum. =P]

Ben Bernanke quotes:

“The world has a great deal more to offer than money.” [Damn straight]

“Because I appreciate the role of chance and contingency in human events, I try to be appropriately realistic about my own capabilities. I know there is much that I don’t know.” [I'm screwed]

"Keep a ‘gratitude journal,’ in which you routinely list experiences and circumstances for which you are grateful.” [Great idea!]

Colbert and Ok Go!

 Colbert on Environmental Threats

Readings

"Trading cap-and-trade" [Free Exchange]

Roadblocks to preventing roadblocks in Washington [Free Exchange]

Esther Duflo: Inspiring.

I want to live here.

Went to the U.S. Ambassador's residence. It was beautiful.

Readings

Krugman - This reminds me of Alan Blinder's "Hard Head, Soft Hearts"

San Francisco in Shanghai

Esther is badass

A Walk Through Insadong

Increased temperatures --> increased migration

Looks like Senator Graham has had enough. He is frustrated that climate change is taking a backseat to immigration...
I feel ya, Graham.

Colbert's take on immigration reform in Arizona.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - No Problemo
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

Recently added to my Google Reader: Green Blog!
Watch the 18 minute video chronicling the life of the plastic bag!

Weekend was fun. Hung out with the babycakes. Played hide and seek for the first time in like 15 years.

Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day!

Esther goes to Seoul/SF!

Dear friends,

As of April 19th, I will be working in Seoul and San Francisco with California Environmental Associates, ClimateWorks, McKinsey and the Korean government to help start an international economic think-tank, Seoul's Global Green Growth Institute. (3GI)

3GI's mission is to provide low carbon economic development plans for developing countries. I am excited to witness first-hand the birth of an international economic think tank and to study the intricate details of the public-private partnership model which I expect will become increasingly prevalent. I don't want to give away all the juicy details (partly because I don't know them myself, and also b/c some of it may be confidential) so you'll just have to wait until 3GI is officially launched! Keep an eye out for it!

In the meantime, you can check this out - Stern Review Summary. Another interesting read is Alan Blinder's "Hard Heads, Soft Hearts" which we read for Prof. Johnson's Econ&Politics class. Chapter 5 is called "Cleaning Up the Environment: Sometimes Cheaper is Better."

I'll be moving to Seoul on April 15th and staying at the Somerset Palace. (I'm not gonna lie, I'm really excited to live in a hotel) I'll be working in SF the weeks of May 3 and May 10.

I am really sad to leave my friends at Georgetown Law, but my professor and co-workers have been wonderfully supportive of my decision. I am blessed to have always been surrounded by people who genuinely care about my intellectual and professional growth. 

I don't know if I'll have much time to blog, but I will try to post exciting stories about life in Seoul and work if it's not confidential. I hope I don't have too many epic fail stories...like that time one of the diplomats at the Embassy caught me singing Taylor Swift in the kitchen. (fail!)

I'm so excited about working on 3GI that I woke up yesterday and just started giggling in my bed. I can't remember being this excited about anything ever! (except maybe that scene in Lord of the Rings II where Smeagol is arguing with himself/Golem and finally gets rid of Golem, do you guys remember that? When he's like "go away and never come back!" And then he jumps around and shouts, "Smeagol is free!!!!" That scene made me so happy that I almost cried b/c I actually think Smeagol is really cute with his big bald head.)

Happy Easter Weekend!

<3
ESJ

P.S. - Special thanks to Nams who recommended me for the position!
Can't wait to see you in SF!!!!